trliber

2 minutes ago, Mike E said:

... USCIS would prefer the former.  Writ of Mandamus 

Fair point and definitely something to consider.

1 minute ago, Misscloud said:

...9 months until her combo card and dead silence. no GC in near future yet. 

Yes, the 'dead silence' piece is what is killing him especially. The government of his home country (Korea) is not federal and highly efficient (such documentation would take merely days for their govt to process) so he is really struggling with this. Thanks for the info.

2 minutes ago, Mike E said:

...It is unlikely you did anything to cause these delays.  
 

Yes most K-1s experience with your husband does. I know of couples waiting 3 years 
 

 

Wow, hard to 'like' this type of update, but at least I feel more at ease knowing we've seemingly done everything right. Obviously, hope to hear something from them soon, but we'll see. Thanks for your help.

Hello,

We were married in October (K1) and submitted applications for adjustment of status, work permit, advance parole and received NOA/I-797C for each of them. The receipt number for all of them starts with IOE which means digital/electronic processing I read on some attorney's websites. It says on the bottom of each I-797C that the USCIS office is "National Benefits Center". I'm just trying to get more information to see if we've done something wrong. He was called to and attended the biometrics appointment at the local office in December, and we haven't heard anything after that. When using the tracking feature on USCIS website, it just says "Actively Reviewing" for each document/application.

I'm getting paranoid and the stress he is experiencing at having no ability to work or travel to see his family is becoming very hard for him psychologically. Sorry if this is answered elsewhere; just hoping to get answers and make sure we did everything right and haven't missed something.

5 minutes ago, Lucky Cat said:

It will not be abandonment if one has approved emergency AP. 

Oh wow that would be amazing if true. I’ll definitely try to consult with an attorney on this (also need to get more info on the recent vacating of “public charge” since we will possibly also need financial aid to pay for his medication.)

Just now, Lucky Cat said:

Have you thought about applying for USCIS approved emergency travel?

 

https://www.uscis.gov/green-card/green-card-processes-and-procedures/travel-documents/emergency-travel

Yes, that’s also an option I saw but wasn’t sure if it would still be considered “abandoning” the adjustment of status. I want to talk to an immigration lawyer about all of this I think because this is literally a life or death situation!

10 hours ago, arken said:

If he has advance parole, he can travel.

Yes thank you. Im looking more into this recently. Does anyone here have direct experience with using Advance Parole to leave the US during Adjustment of Status to green card?

There’s a huge paragraph on the USCIS webpage for Advanced Parole that reads “Caution” and warns even if one uses Advance Parole it results in USCIS considering the Adjustment of Status abandoned/cancelled. We do not want to risk this under any circumstances. 

7 hours ago, DaveAndAnastasia said:

I see this mentioned most with Canadians (and Canada may be unusual on this), but he should double check to make sure that actually works before trying it.

In at least some countries, if you become a resident of another country, you're no longer eligible for their state-subsidized health care.

Wow good point. Thank you for this information. Need my fiance to be sure Korea will not bar him (I think he only forfeits national healthcare if he becomes a citizen of another country since ethnic Koreans born in Korea cannot be dual citizens).

My fiance has contracted a chronic medical condition requiring medication and he wishes to avail himself of his home country’s free healthcare to get the medicine while waiting for a work permit and/or green card.

Can he use advanced parole or travel document done under humanitarian reasons with a doctor’s note to go back to his home country for a short period without jeopardizing his green card application?

31 minutes ago, Lily_PH said:

Hey Trliber,

 

I am guessing you are finally done with the interview.

Can i ask what's your fiancee's korean police certificate looks like?

 

I've made my research and found there are 2 kinds of korean police certificate. I went to the Jongno station near in Anguk but they are not issuing anymore the one with 'lapsed'. Thanks and much appreciated

Hey 😄

We have not interviewed still because of an issue with the health check that came up. I know if you view the packet the embassy sent with the email notifying they received the application from USCIS they should have a detailed description in korean about the docs. I wish I had a better answer 😩

19 hours ago, Lily_PH said:

Hi  Im applying in Seoul too. What is the update on your processing?

We just got approved on March 11 and just waiting for the NOA hard copy. We might wait for awhile to call the NVC for our case number since some people said it'll take 30 days to get one. I'd be happy to hear how your processing is now.

Hi! 

Oh gosh I can’t remember the dates off the top of my head but I think my profile has our timeline updated. I want to say it took 1 month or maybe a little longer to get NOA hard copy. Then after that it took another month for NVC to actually send it to the embassy. They’re all going super slowly these days.

I got super paranoid during the period of waiting for NVC to send it to the embassy. I thought they were waiting for me to do something or send them something before forwarding it to Seoul, but no—you’re fine just to wait. They will send it when the embassy says please send more.

Embassy contacted us a couple of weeks (maybe even 3?) after NVC sent it saying please schedule an interview. I’m now waiting for my fiance to schedule the interview.

Wish you guys luck! Hope this helps.

1 hour ago, OCgirlxSKboy said:

Another site is saying it will take between 1-3 months to go to the embassy. 🤦🏻‍♀️ We’re still waiting for NOA2 and we filed in early early June last year. It’s tough being so far for so long but you’re almost there!

 

https://rapidvisa.com/k1-visa-timeline/

Thank you for your encouragement. I wish you both a fast NOA2. I was informed ours is now moving to the embassy but I didn’t bother tracking it yet because I suspect it will still show “At NVC.” I’ll track today however because I heard (unconfirmed) that some embassies don’t even tell you or the fiance when they receive it so you have to be careful not to let it sit and expire! 

34 minutes ago, LindaSBaldeh said:

Yes they go from the USCIS to NVC. Did you receive a letter or email from the NVC so you can go and make an account with them? Then they send you messages through there.

I never got a letter but they recently updated their policy to where they will no longer send paper correspondence of any kind. I got an email last week informing me they sent the application to the embassy so now we’re waiting for it to arrive there!

Just to confirm for anyone who is unsure: We didn’t have to do anything at NVC stage. Just wait about two months until they sent it to the embassy.

Hi guys, I cannot remember if I’ve asked this yet but, our K1 application moved to NVC in December (12-2). 

I called NVC last month and they confirmed they have ours and gave me the case and invoice numbers.

Operator told me Seoul hasn’t requested it yet. Does that mean it will wait at NVC until US embassy Seoul requests K1 applications from NVC?

I just feel weird letting it sit there as if I’m doing something wrong. I don’t want it to expire at NVC because of our inaction.

Is there anything we need to do to move our K1 from NVC to Seoul embassy? Or just wait on the embassy to request it and move it forward?

16 hours ago, Marthaeu said:

 

The same problem exists in the Bogota Colombia embassy, they are only giving appointments for tourist visas.  The cases are still at the NVC waiting to assign appointments for interviews from March 2020.

I imagine every embassy will be different. US Embassy Seoul is open and confirmed through email that they are holding K1 interviews and the visa processing time tool on State Dept’s website shows non-student and non-tourist visa interview wait times at ~70 days. BUT that email from them was in early January or December so who knows if anything changed between now and then.

On 1/18/2021 at 6:39 PM, LindaSBaldeh said:

Is there anyone else stuck at the NVC stage? We have been since April 2020

Yes. We are K1 and stuck at NVC currently. The operator told me that the embassy will request the application(s) when they are ready to process more and NVC would notify us when our application is sent to US Embassy Seoul but we have’t heard anything. We got NOA2 on 12/2/2020 and it left USCIS immediately after that then disappeared once it went to NVC. I had to call them to confirm they did receive it, they have not initiated communication with me/us at all so it’s been stressful feeling like I don’t know anything unless I call.

I’m doubting if I understood the NVC operator correctly. Can anyone else confirm that once K1  moves from USCIS to NVC there’s no required action of me or my fiance? They should just send it to the embassy when the embassy is ready?

Our application has been assigned an NVC number but has not left NVC. Any updates on about how long they’re sitting at NVC before the embassy requests the K1 app?

On 11/9/2020 at 12:56 AM, GammaDucky said:

Has there been any new news on the seoul embassy on k-visas?  I am still waiting for the nvc to send mine out and they just told me that they arent sending any applications out until the embassies tell them that they are working routine visas. 

Any news from your end or anyone else’s on what’s happening in Seoul? I did the State Department tracker and it read “At NVC,” so I guess the embassy hasn’t requested it.

What do we do if they expire while sitting at NVC?

I emailed them a month ago and they confirmed they are processing K visas. The visa time estimate tool on Dept of State’s website also shows 22 days for immigrant visas (which I think they process K1 as) instead of ‘999’ like before.

NVC has my application and is waiting for US embassy Seoul to request it, but do I now have my fiancé fill out DS-160 in the meantime?

On 1/3/2021 at 3:03 AM, Greenbaum said:

Yes, The US Embassy Dubai must request your file from NVC. Pre-pandemic NVC would assign a case number and then every other week NVC would send files to the embassies for the interviewing stage of the visa procurement phase. When the pandemic reared its ugly head, things changed and NVC housed the files until such time as the embassy would open to processing K-1 visas, then and only then did NVC send files. Some embassies are open and doing K-1 visas now and others are not. 

 

Check to see if your embassy is processing visas and which ones. If your results return 999 that indicates that they are still not processing that visa type. Your mileage may vary.

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas.html

 

Calling to get your case number is a good move but calling to nudge your file forward is a waste of your time and the customer service agent's time, just saying.

Thank you so much for this info @Greenbaum. I emailed US Embassy Seoul directly and they confirmed for me that they are processing K visas. I suppose this means I wait to hear from someone for next steps? It feels wrong not taking any action! 

7 hours ago, RishDan said:

Happy New Year everyone ! 
it’s been 30 days now since we got our petition approved and yet no response from NVC with our case number. 
Has anyone tired calling NVC after 30 days Time frame is over?, is it really any helpful ? 
just looking at options whether to call them now or wait for another week or so, as it’s been holidays and festive weekend. 
Thanks for any suggestions or thoughts on this. 

Im in the exact same boat and came to ask the same. We got notice of approval dated 12/2 from USCIS but NVC hasn’t contacted us at all yet. Hoping someone here has some info for us.

Hello,

I would like to request guidance. I have tried many times to download the document in the google drive link but was unable to.

I am confused what my next steps are. We got the I797 confirmation/approval in the mail but I’m not sure what I need to do next because I feel like I’m finding conflicting information. Do I contact NVC to find out where our application is? Will they contact me? 

NOA1 March 31, 2020

NOA2  Dec 3, 2020

Tried accessing the PDF but Google said I did not have the ability to view the file as I do not have the file (a little circular logic?!)

Any other ways to access that document/information?

Wondering if you guys think my fiance and I should visit each other. Its been more than a year since we met in person. Because of COVID I cannot go to his country (Korea) as they force a government quarantine on the foreigner for 2 weeks at the foreigner’s expense (two weeks of vacation time from work and $1500 is something I can’t afford). My fiance doesn’t have money to travel to a midway point such as Hawaii—and don’t want him to enter US for fear of them being suspicious he’ll stay.

Do we have to meet before the final interview to be taken seriously? I met him when I was working and living in Korea and knew him for years before proposing so not sure what the consular officer will think of us not meeting since Oct 2019.